Prof Modupe Adelabu, ITF Director Mr Ayo Alabi and the Fund’s Area Manager in Akure, Mr Thomas Olaniyan Jacob, during a courtesy visit on the Deputy Governor in Ado-Ekiti…..yesterday
The Ekiti State government will use the youths as the vehicle to rapid agro-industrial revolution that will make the state the food basket of Nigeria, State Deputy Governor, Prof Modupe Adelabu said yesterday.
She dropped the hint while hosting in her Ado-Ekiti Office, a delegation of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) from Jos, Plateau State, led by the Fund’s Director General and Chief Executive, Prof Longmas Sambo Wapmuk.
She said the administration of Governor Kayode Fayemi has identified the youths as germane to sustainable development as the future managers of the state and its resources.
According to her, the administration has given priority to the training and empowerment of the youths since inception on October 16, 2010.
The deputy governor told her guests that over five thousand youths have been trained, empowered and gainfully engaged to work in the Ekiti State Traffic Management Agency (EKSTMA), Youth Commercial Agricultural Development (YCAD) and recently, the Ekiti Peace Corps to curtail the massive unemployment plaguing the country.
She asserted that the Land of Honour State will soon become a factor to be reckoned with in Nigeria’s agro-industrial sectors as it will produce cash and food crops to feed industries with raw materials and other parts of the country with food stuff.
While commending the ITF on youths training and empowerment programme in the state, Prof Adelabu said Ekiti will continue to collaborate and compliment ITF programme at making the youths self-reliant.
In his remark, Prof Wapmuk commended the efforts of Governor Fayemi on the provision of infrastructure that will transform the state into an industrial haven, particularly in the areas of roads network which has started yielding investment dividends.
He disclosed that the ITF, through the National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP) was currently training 1000 youths across the three Senatorial Districts of Ekiti State in trades such as poultry farming, tiling, welding and fabrication to reduce youth restiveness and particularly make them self-employed.
The ITF chief, who explained that his mission in the state was to examine other areas where the agency could intervene and collaborate with the state government on youth training and empowerment, said the body will continue to pursue its mandate of building and developing the nation’s human resources.
Last modified: November 8, 2013
